Airship



Sept. 14, 1 26. 1,599,496

W. SHEPPARD AIRS HIP Filed June 29, 19251 4 Sheets-$hee 1 INVENTOR WT6/15/ 124 e0 ATTORNEYS Sept. 14, 1926.

w. SHEPPARD AIRSHIP Filed June 29, 1925 4 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTORWSHEPPABD ATTORNEYS Sept. 14,1926. 1,599,496

w. SHEPPARD AIHSHIP Filed June 29, 1925 v 4 Sheets-Sheet :5

INVENTOR WSHEPPARD ATTORNEYS W. SHEPPARD.

AIRSHIP File d'June 29, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 5% I T 1 9 5 52 Z9 5 4 J401: [:1 a? T- Z? fl Z J/ 55 Z5 15 ,3 Jay 5 INVENTOR 5: WISHEPPABD BY 7 dATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 14, 1926.

UNITED. STATES 1,599,496 PATENT OFFICE. f

warrnalsnnrrann, or. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

unsmr.

Application med June 29, v1925. Serial No. 40,305.

ing the airship in a set course during flight 10- and for generallystabilizing the ship dur-' ing its travel in the air. A'further objectof my invention to provide an airship "of the type described in whichnovel means is employed for steering the course of a shi which themechanism or doing so is entirely disposed within the body of the; ship.A further ob'ect of my invention is to provide an airs ip of thelighter-thah-air type in which I employ novel means .ior propellin theship t rough the air.

A furt er object of my invention is to provide an airship of the typedescribed which is capable of withstanding severe high winds withoutdamage thereto, and which is thoroughl efiicient in operation.

Other objects an advantages will appear in the following specificationandthe novel features of the invention will be particularl pointed outin the appended claim..

M y invention, is illustrated in the accom panying drawings forming partof thls'application, in whlch Figure 1v is a side elevation of anembodiment of my invention, portions thereof being broken away,

F1gure 2 is a front elevation of my improved airship,

Fi re 3'is a sectional view of the airship as il ustrated in Fi re 1,

Figure 4 is an en arged view of a part of the airship as shown 1n Figure3 and- Figure 5 is a sectional view along the line 55 of Figure 4.

In carrying out my invention I make use of a gas-tight body member 1.The body member 1 has a gradually tapered prow Y portion 2 and agradually tapered stern portion 3, the prow and the stern being ofsubstantially the same contour.

Means for rendering the body member 1 substantially rigid is provided ina multi plicity of tie rods 4 which are-distributed throu bout theentire internal portion of the a1rship. The body member 1 is covin theairand in I cred withthin metal sheeting, and sealed tight at the. seamsso that li hter-than-air gas, such as helium, may be is osed within thebody in direct contact wit the outer sheeting 5.

The sheeting 5 is secured to metal, I-

beams 6 which are in turn secured to the tie rods 4 (see Figure 4).

A metal gas-tight tube or tunnel 7 is projected through the entire body,member 1 from prow to stern, and its outer edges are formed contiguouswith and secured to'the sheeting 5 (see Figure 4). This tunnel 7 issquare in cross section, as shown in Figure 2 and is substantially aswide as one half of the radius of a section through the body member. A 1

An engine 8 is mountecfwith its crank shaft on the longitudinal axis ofthe air ship and of the tunnel 7 whiohhas its axis 1 in common with theaxis'of the body member, by means of suspension rods 9, and apuller'type of propeller 10 is mounted upon the front of the crank shaftadjacent to the forwardmouth of the tunnel 7. An engme 11, similar tothe engine 8, is mounted at the. stern portion of the tunnel 7 b meansof suspension rods 12 and has a pus er type of propeller mounted at therearward end of the crank shaft adjacent to the stern mouth of'thetunnel. Two other engines 14, identical to the engines 8 and 9, are

mounted at equally spaced distances from one another intermediate thelength of the tunnel 7, and each has a pusher type of pro eller 16 atthe rearward end of its crank type of propeller '19 at the rearwardortion of its crank shaft for'assisting in t e propulsion of theshipthrough the air.

With reference to Figure 1 it will be noted thatother engines havingpusher types of propellers 20 are disposed within A 0 gondolas 21suspended from-the body memher 1 at points adjacent to the keelportionof the body member on either side of the forward and stern portions ofthe body type of propeller 22.

member. There is also an engine at the stern portion of the keel havinga pusher All of the man housings 18 and the gondolas. 21 havepassageways 23 connecting therewith and with an interior commonpassageway 24in the interior of the body memher 1 by means of whichmechanics and operators may ascend from the keel or cargo dolas 21.

portion 25 of the airship to the various man housings 18and may descendto the gon-v In descending to the gondolas from the keel it isnecessary'to g0 through longitudinal passages (not shown) communicatingwith the passage 24 to'the passage 23 associated with the gondolas. Thislongitudinal passagestructure in lighter-them air ships is .wellknown inthe. art and needs no further illustration; One of the most importantarrangements of passages employed in my ship is the vertical staircase26', entirely housed toexclude gases, which extends from the keelportion 25 to the tunnel 7, by means of which passengers may ascend tothe tunnel 7 of theship should the airshi become disabled and fall upona' body 0 water.

I shall not describe in detail the arrange- 'ment of the cabins Withinthe keel ortion 25, since this again is a matter whic is en'- tirelywithin the discretion of the architect who designs the ship, and dependsrimarily upon the purpose or which the s ip is intended. Itis enough tosay, however, that all of the heavy cargo should be disposed in the keelportion25 to' further maintain the ship in an upright position.Referring now to Figures 4-a'nd 5 1t will be noted that I have provideda particularly novel means for steering the course through the air. In

the ordinary type of lighter-than-air ship the means for steering thecourse of the ship is disposed exteriorly of the ship at the sternortion and projects beyond the outer shell. 11 my improved constructionI make use of both elevator and lateral lane or rudder.

The elevator consists in a su stantially hori-- zontal member 27 whichextends from one side of the tunnel to the opposite side and is 'hingedlmounted at the mid-point of the tunnel y means'of a horizontallydisposed rod 28. Means for actuatin the elevator 27 so as to raise orlower, the e evator to eflect an upward or downwardmovement of the prowof the ship is rovided in wires or cables 29 and'30 whic are secured attheir outermost ends to the outer portion of the elevator 27 at 31. Theopiposite ends of these cables, 29 and 30 exten over shiv'es 32 and downthrough a tube the upper end of which is shown at 33 to the foremostportion of the keel located. 1

Referring now to Figure 5 which is a sectional view through themechanism illustrated in Figure 4. taken in a horizontal plane, it willbe noted that I have provided a lateral plane or rudder 34 which isdisposed between theengine 8 and the rod 28 upon Which the elevator 27is .mounted. This 25, where the pilot cabin is rudder 34 extends fromthe top of the.

tunnel 7 tothe bottom of the tunnel and is hingedly mounted upon avertical 'rod 35 forming its axis, which is secured at'its top andbottom to the adjacent walls of the tunnel. I

. Means for actuating the rudder 34 to the left and to the right isprovided in lead wires or cables 36 and 37 which are secured at theiroutermost ends at 38 to the outer end of the rudder 34 and which havetheir opposite ends extending over shives'39 and extending-down throughtubes, the up er ends of which are shown at40, to the orward portion ofthe keel 26, where the pilot cabin is disposed.

From the foregoing descri tion of the various parts of-the device teoperation thereof may be readily understood. Let us assume that the shipdescribed is in the airand in the course of flight.- During normalflight all of the engines and propellers described are in operation. Itwill be noted that all but the propeller 10 are propellers urge the chipin a forward direction. is

associated with the tunnel so that the same air will be projected fromthe tunnel at the stern of the ship with sufiicient veloci to force isgreatly augmentedby the presence of thepropellers 19 and the propellers20 and 22.

Let us assume that the ilot desires to cause the ship to ascend to aigher altitude This is done by. actuatin the mechanism within the pilothouse to raw the cable 30 downwardly so as to lower the outer end of theelevator 27 Air passing throu h the forward portion of the tunnel willstr' .6 the elevator so as to cause the forward portion of the ship tobe lifted'slowl thereby causing the ship tonose upward y and rise to ahigher altitude. 'When the proper altitude has been reached theelevatoris returned to its normal position so that the ship may rest on an evenkeel. In a similar manner it it is desiredto cause the ship to descend,the

cable 29 is drawn so as to lift the outer end of the elevator 27, andthus cause the prow of the ship to nose downwardly.

Lateral movement of the airship in flight is caused by actuation of therudder 34, which is operated by drawing the cables 36 or 37 by such wellknown mechanism as is employ'edin actuating a marine rudder, whichin itsusual form is a pilot wheel having a drum, about which the opposite endsof the cables are wound in opposite directions, and it is disposed inthe pilot cabin. In the event that the engines within the man housings18 or the 'gondolas 21 should require attention during flight anoperator or mechanic mayhave ready access thereto by ascending thepassage 24 and moving through the passage 23 to the particular manhousing or gondola to which it is desired to reach. In. descending tothegondolas, it is necessary, as stated before, to move through ahorizontal passage which communicates with the passage 24.

Let us assume that for some unforseen reason the ship has becomedisabled'in flight and that it must alight upon a body of water.Inasmuch as the keel 25 is. disposed at the lower part of the ship, andwould fall beneath the level of the body of water, some protection mustbe afforded to the.passenlike are brought to them from the cabins orfrom external sources.

I claim: 4 v

A lighter than air airship comprising a gas-containing body having apassage of uniform diameter throughout extending therethrough from theprow to the stern of the body, means for propelling the airship disposedin said passage, a rudder pivotally mounted at its forward edge andbeing disposed entirely within the passage and adjacent to the prow ofthe airship, and an elevator pivotally mounted at its forward edge andbeing disposed entirely within the passage and directly in backof therudder, whereby a movement of said rudder or elevator will cause the airpassing through the passage to act upon the prow of the airship forcausing the airship to change its course in flight, either up and down,or from side to side.

WALTER SHEPPARD.

